The Bobcat (Lynx rufus), also known as the red lynx or little lynx, is a medium-sized cat native to North America. It ranges from southern Canada, most of the contiguous United States to Oaxaca in Mexico. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List since 2002, because it is widely distributed and abundant.
It has distinctive black bars on its forelegs and a black-tipped, stubby (or "bobbed") tail, from which it derives its name. It is smaller on average than the Canada lynx, with which it shares parts of its range, but is about twice as large as the domestic cat. It is an adaptable predator inhabiting wooded areas, as well as deserts, semideserts, mountains, prairies, urban edge, forest edge, swamps, marshes, lakes, and rivers. It remains in some of its original range, but populations are vulnerable to local extinction ("extirpation") by coyotes and domestic animals. Though the bobcat prefers rabbits and hares, it hunts insects, lizards, chickens, geese and other birds, small rodents, and sometimes animals as large as deer. They can also climb after prey like squirrels, raccoons, and even raid bird nests. Prey selection depends on location and habitat, season, and abundance. Like most cats, the bobcat is territorial and largely solitary, although with some overlap in home ranges. It uses several methods to mark its territorial boundaries, including claw marks and deposits of urine or feces. The bobcat breeds from winter into spring and has a gestation period of about 2 months.
13 subspecies have been historically recognized, but only 2 are currently accepted based on phylogeographic and genetic studies: the eastern bobcat (L. r. rufus) lives east of the Great Plains, and the western bobcat (L. r. fasciatus) west of the Great Plains. These subspecies were probably separated during interglacial periods in the Pleistocene by the aridification of the Great Plains.
Bobcats are very good climber using their hind legs to leap from branch to branch. They have incredible hearing, too and can hear a mole or a mouse in it's burrow. They also have great camouflage depending on where they live. Their fur color ranges from reddish brown to gray. They often have to compete with coyotes for food because they're both the same size, usually around 30 lbs. Depending on their location in North America, they'll also have to compete with even larger predators like jaguars, cougars, wolves, lynxes, ocelots, badgers, grizzly bears and black bears. This elusive predator is feature in some Indigenous people's (of North and Central America) stories and in the folklore of European colonizers.